The project for development of CRM in Baltika brewery

The large-scale CRM solution unrolled in "Baltika brewery provides high controllability of service of sales, allowing to react quickly to requirements of the market and to successfully implement innovations.

2016

Transfer of CRM on the MS SQL Server of 2016

Baltika uses a CRM system of the Russian producer — Info Monolith company from St. Petersburg, data management is based on the Microsoft SQL Server platform.

Initially a CRM system was based on the version of the MS SQL Server 2008 R2, then versions of the MS SQL Server 2012 and 2014 were used, in the second half of April, 2016 moving on the MS SQL Server of 2016 was organized^[1].

Transition to the new version of the Microsoft SQL Server is permanently connected with next "break" in development of our CRM system. Thanks to long-term partnership with Microsoft we some of the first receive benefit from the newest technologies of management of databases and we implement them with minimum risks" — the project manager from outside specified Monolith of Info, the chief architect Victor Sivov.

Even by the most modest estimates, on former architecture purchase costs of other, more powerful servers necessary for support of the centralized CRM system of the regional level, would make not less than $1 million. But the total benefit from implementation of the new version of the Microsoft SQL Server is many times higher — in the shortest possible time and with the minimum costs we unrolled the IT platform necessary for strengthening of market positions of the company and for implementation of strategic business plans for the next years. From the beginning of use of SQL 2016 we have even more opportunities — Hermann Epstein, CIO Carlsberg Eastern Europe and the vice president for IT of Baltika brewery lists results of implementation.

Fight the new architecture underwent testing perfectly well, having confirmed results of tests. Transaction processing time with one million commands was reduced from 2 minutes to 1 second. In specific business indicators it poured out instantly too. The new CRM system services 8 thousand people (earlier – 5 thousand), 600 points of data exchange with distributors (instead of 300) and 2 thousand office employees (increase at 500 people).

2013-2014

Development of the project is mini-CRM

On September 23, 2014 the Monolit-Info company announced the project on creation of mobile application for quality control of products of Baltika company in outlets (mini-CRM).

Project Progress

The beginning of the project was preceded by the long stage of approval of requirements begun in the summer of 2012 within which requirements of different services and branches, the accumulated operating experience are coordinated by Baltika of the Monolith of CRM system, the recommendation of the third-party experts who were involved by Baltika in problem definition.

Project Results

In July, 2013 the application is brought into operation. In March, 2014 the application version for smartphones under iOS is implemented. By September 23, 2014 in a system more than 1.5 thousand users are registered, on average about 3.5 thousand addresses about problems in outlets are registered and processed every month.

Mini-CRM — mobile application on platforms Android and IOS which can be set on all corporate smartphones or tablets and allows each employee of the company to make the contribution to improvement of customer service quality.

When developing mobile application there were tasks:

• involvement of all staff of the company in sales process improvement to the end consumer;
• operational informing on lack of products, inappropriate product quality or calculations in outlet;
• monitoring of use of a retail store equipment of the company.

Functionality of mobile application

• On the card of the mobile device all nearest outlets are displayed.
• On a form with information on outlet contacts of the sales representative and supervisor and also the history of addresses are displayed. If the owner of the mobile device noticed any problems with products of the company in outlet — he can immediately report about it.
• Supervisors and their heads daily receive by mail the report on open addresses on outlets in the territory.
• Sales representatives receive addresses directly on the mobile devices as tasks in outlets.
• After correction of a problem, the sales representative sets the status at the message "Is executed" and puts a photo as confirmation.

Hermann Epstein, the vice president for information technologies of Baltika brewery, told: "Use of Mini-CRM allows Baltika to understand and manage better the processes happening in sales points. In any outlet there are deviations in assortment or a status of products that causes discontent of consumers and harms reputation of the company and its brands. Use of such application allows to reveal quickly on site problems and to correct them. The project answers the strategy of development of corporate management". Successful project implementation became possible thanks to the reliable and checked partner of Baltika in the field of IT — Monolit-Info company".

Alexander Plotkin, the development director of Monolit-Info Ltd, noted: "The functionality implemented in Mini-CRM well supplements the main CRM solution, giving the chance to involve in processes of improvement of quality of customer interaction much Bol a wide range of staff of the company. Creating solutions for the companies of national scale, we develop the products, turning on in their structure additional components to provide to our clients the solutions answering to their IT strategy".

2006-2012

Tasks

In 2006 consolidation of four breweries entering into the Carlsberg group — Baltika, Yarpivo, Vienna and Pikra took place — and the uniform service of sales was created. For management of this huge service it was necessary to create the information system allowing to coordinate in scales of Russia activity in the field of sale and also to collect market information, relying on which it would be possible to plan adequately a company performance in general.

The CRM system purpose in Baltika company — to provide interaction with the immediate buyer, via the mechanism management of retail chain stores. For this purpose understanding of the events in sales points, and timely response to the events is necessary. The second task — to standardize and make under control the policy of the company in relation to outlets, i.e. to provide the set level of service and the processes defining it, trade marketing and the calculation of products. Therefore one of the main functional areas of the CRM system — management of sales representatives, quality of their work and their control.

As all secondary sales pass through distributors, automation of data exchange with information systems of distributors — for automatic transfer of orders from sales representatives to distributors and trackings of process of accomplishment of orders by them on the goods delivery in outlets was one of the main tasks of the project.

Solution

As the solution answering to assigned tasks a system "the Monolith was selected : CRM", developed by Monolit-Info company. Focus of solutions Monolit-Info on FMCG sector and also the rich functionality of a system focused in those areas which Baltika selected as key became the main selection term. An important factor was also the fact that by this moment on Baltika, and in those companies with which it integrated long ago and the ERP solution from Monolit-Info was successfully used. It allowed to use most fully synergy from integration of CRM-and ERP solutions.

Project scales

• 75 regional divisions and 11 all Russia plants of Baltika are integrated into the CRM system
• More than 350 distributors are integrated into a system by automatic data exchange via more than 800 gateways.
• In a system more than 6000 users work, at the same time about 5000 sales representatives are connected to a system via mobile devices.
• The CRM system covers about 97% of outlets of Russia.

Possibilities of the implemented CRM solution

The CRM solution used in Baltika company based on "the Monolith: CRM" has the following functionality:

• Automation of work of sales representatives on collecting primary information on the market. Currently it is possible to collect by their forces practically any market information: about what happens in outlets as buyers for product quality, for its range and so on react. Mobile application Monolith of Agent contains functions of work with photos and GPS monitoring.
• Support of work with the customer base, preparation operational reportings, formation of the commodity directory and pricing, management of programs of loyalty for outlets, visualization and optimization of indicators
• The analytical CRM implemented on the basis of the corporate data warehouse based on OLAP technology. With its help data marts on a trade - to marketing actions, distribution, a covering of outlets, to price level and also operational analytics of sales form (volumes/orders). It allows users to receive independently reports, and in that type which is necessary exactly at present, with the high level of high-speed performance and efficiency.
• Calculation of efficiency a trade - marketing actions, work with sales channels and distributors and also KPI of field personnel
• Management of service maintenance of the equipment of the company (refrigerators, other) installed in outlets
• Automatic data exchange with information systems of distributors.

A system is unrolled in corporate service center in St. Petersburg and represents the cloud solution available from all regional representative offices and the plants. Not only the staff of Baltika, but also more than 350 partner distributors and the service centers address resources of the CRM system. Besides, on the terms of SaaS this solution is available to the companies of the Carlsberg group located in Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. By means of the mobile devices — smartphones and tablets — 5000 sales representatives receive tasks, take orders, check a remaining balance of goods in warehouses, estimate a condition of settlement and collect marketing information. More than 1500 office employees use a system for the solution of operational and analytical tasks.

Continuous improvement

The CRM solution of Baltika company is continuously improved to reside at the level of those tasks which are set by business. At the end of 2010 migration on "the Monolith was executed: CRM" version 2.0 with the updated system platform allowing to scale the solution under large volumes of quickly increased data. This modern cloud solution allows to unroll quickly centralized CRM services in a cloud, to flexibly connect new user groups to a system, to place new services and to modify already existing, with simultaneous access control to them different user groups, to quickly select necessary hardware resources depending on loading.

At the end of 2011 the users of a system working via mobile devices received the new version of mobile application under control of OS Android containing new interface opportunities and functions, such as GPS monitoring, work with photos, etc.

The project of performance improvement of a system due to implementation of Microsoft SQL Server 2012 which is successfully completed at the beginning of 2012 became the next stage of implementation of technology innovations.

Results

It is created and successfully a common information space for work of staff of service of sales of Baltika company develops. Work is conducted according to uniform standards and procedures that provides high controllability. The CRM system allows to control compliance of separate actions of employees of sales strategy and execution of operational methods.

In general, in Baltika company the CRM system acts as the management tool as all territory of sales and its further development allowing to react quickly to requirements of the market and to successfully implement innovations.